


The Many-Faced God

by redpandawriter



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Game of Thrones References, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-03-30 15:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13954794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redpandawriter/pseuds/redpandawriter
Summary: An unfortunate chain of events leads to an unassuming glaive answering the call to action.(So I found out Axis cannonically has three kids and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.)





	1. Paternal

**Author's Note:**

> KairaKara101 is my enabler, luv ya gurl ♡

The Glaives were all given standard issue communication devices, they were a mix between a Nokia cell phone and a pager. The only applications on them were calling, texting, emails, and a calendar. In an age of ever increasingly complicated technology, Axis had found it refreshingly simple. 

Although he was suspect that only he and a handful of the older Glaives appreciated that, the younger ones just bitched about the inability to download mobile games or some such other nonsense. He couldn't be bothered to listen to all the gossip, not when he could be training. Tredd and Sonitus can call him old all they want, it's not a fault for wanting a little simplicity in life.

And speaking of wanting simplicity, this morning Axis had received a strange and concerning memorandum in his inbox, he felt a seed of anxiety take root as he read its contents. For a reason undisclosed in the email, he was to meet with the King of Lucis before the afternoon.

His instinctive first thought was _this has to be a mistake_ , so he finished his morning routine in record time and found himself standing before Luche's office, his confidence being chipped away with each passing second he put off knocking on the door. Never had he so very desperately hoped for Tredd or Libertus to pop out from somewhere and reveal this to be some kind of prank.

But unless they had some amazingly fantastic blackmail material, there was no way in hell they managed to get Captain Drautos’ official signature for a _joke_. Not without losing a life or limb or some shred of dignity in the process.

With these thoughts in mind, it was only making it harder to knock on the door.

 _Like pulling out a splinter, c'mon let's get this over with_ , he thought finally bringing his hand to the ornately graved wood door. There was a familiar voice from inside, inviting him in. As Axis entered, he was greeted with the sight of the Glaives’ chosen leader, Luche Lazarus. The man whose judgement they valued in battle, and who many entrusted with their lives.

On the battlefield at any rate, in a place like the citadel everyone thought he could benefit from losing that stick that's made it's home up his ass.

An intelligent man, but one who is too often serious, even in casual conversation. As nice as it is to never have a droll talk ever commence, the energy required for that amount of mental sharpness in just one conversation left someone average-minded like Axis feeling more often lost and disoriented less than halfway through it.

Standing behind his desk, the usual sober look on Luche's face turned ill-humored. Axis willed his hands to keep still, lest he lose another inch of fabric on his sleeves from his nagging tick. The older man awaited, standing before the desk, for the younger to start.

“Did you get the missive?”

Axis nodded slowly, unsure, “It's not a prank, then, I take it.”

“No,” Luche replied, an echo of sympathy emanating from his eyes, “Best to just get to the throne room, and get it over with.”

He nodded in reply, and just as he was about to reach for the door, the called out, “And don't forget,” Axis looked back to Luche, the latter’s expression resuming its usual dispassionate state, but there was a subtle shift in his eyes that left older man uneasy, “Know that should anything happen, we stand by you, for hearth and home.”

The unsaid implications left the elder with a strange and harrowing feeling. Axis couldn't see the king like this, but what choice did he have? Those are his orders, and to disobey would bring more trouble than was worth dealing with.

And so, with a heavy breath, he navigated the halls to the throne room, pausing a moment at the door to take a few more steadying breaths and release the tension in his hands and jaw, before entering.

Standing, not sitting, some feet away, was the very king of the country Axis lived and called home in the past years. The king had appeared to be conversing with an advisor until he noticed the lone Glaive near the door, then gave such a welcoming smile that it made Axis feel a decade younger.

“Ah, you must Axis Arra, correct?” 

Wait, fuck is he supposed to bow or something? All the Glaives were taught general royal etiquette but that was years ago, when the crown was more hands on with them. And since Drautos took command the need for it was lessened, especially since the formalities made the man uncomfortable. 

Although in the time it took him to internally panic, he missed whatever cue to respond but _thank the astrals_ the king didn't seem offended. In fact, Axis could almost dare to spot a flicker of amusement in the man's eye. Almost.

He'll have to talk to Lazarus about formalities later, if he doesn't give himself a stroke or a heart attack first.

The king inclined his head towards Axis, raising his eyebrows in question, and for the second time in under five minutes the Glaive internally screamed in panic as he realized five minutes have passed in his silence. Astrals please kill him now to spare him the indignity of living with this disaster of a meeting for the rest of his life.

A low chuckle brought him out of his self deprecating thoughts. “Forgive me, dear boy,” began his majesty, “I have not found it often within the citadel walls that my presence stuns to silence. I've no doubt you are wondering as to why I have personally summoned you here, but before that, I feel I should inform you of the situation as it stands, and to dispel some of the misconstrued rumors that the media has unhelpfully spread. 

“My former shield, Clarus Amicitia, has contracted a rather unsavory illness, and it has left him bedridden in the hospital for the foreseeable future. It's truly unfortunate, and I was reluctant to accept his son, even temporarily, as his replacement and leave his young daughter to act as my son's replacement. But such is fate, and it would be more trouble than it is worth to not simply accept. And as I'm sure you have heard, Prince Noctis is to be married to Princess Lunafreya in Altissia, my son is to travel there alongside his crownsguard.” The king paused a moment, as Axis could feel the blood leave his face.

“My son's crownsguard for this trip should consist of his shield, his advisor, and a friend. Noctis has selected a friend, and, though she is young, Iris is as prepared as she can be at the moment. His advisor however, has also fallen ill. It's not so nearly as bad as to require hospital treatment, but unfortunately, it's best he remain so as not to risk worsening his condition. Which brings me to why you are here.”

_He wants me to escort his son._

Axis’s blood ran cold, his fingers went numb, his breath stopped short, his vision became briefly black, and his feet felt unsteady. The realization of what his majesty was asking felt bone crushingly heavy, if there was ever a time he wished he were more outspoken, now was a perfect instance.

“I had asked Cor to review profiles from the Kingsglaive,” King Regis continued, either oblivious or pointedly ignoring the glaive’s inner turmoil, Axis was inclined to believe the latter, “as members from the crownsguard hardly leave the walls, having someone who has a better understanding of what is out there would undoubtedly prove to be beneficial.” 

Fixing his gaze squarely on Axis, he was subject to the most intense seconds of eye contact in his life. “What I wish to ask of you,” the king began, softer than before, “I ask not as a king but as a father, who only wants to ensure the safety of child. If I understand correctly, you have felt the same, yes?”

Axis blinked, as a rush of flashing images, memories of a life he now only lived in his dreams.

Some about chilly mornings spent under blankets, limbs tangled with the moon of his life, reluctant to leave the cozy warmth of their bed.

A pot of coffee strong enough to wake the dead, tired little ones falling asleep on their breakfast, laughter at the sight, getting ready to face another day of hard work in fields, with only the sun to keep his company. 

Coming home to smiling faces, little ones impatiently waiting their turn for his attention, the laughter caused by their playing, the smell of good food, sitting around a dinner table, body now fully aching, yearning for the comfortable embrace of the moon of his life.

He blinked again, feeling a chilling emptiness settle deep within his bones.

Axis was certain that his expression told the king all he needed to know. There was a shift in the air and suddenly the king didn't seem so imposing. That look in his eyes, it told Axis, that Regis was just a father, asking a fellow father, to keep an eye out for his child. To help keep him safe.

“...I understand.” Axis replied.


	2. War Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axis contemplates the direction in which his life is now going, and reaches a conclusion that makes him feel his age.

News of Axis accompanying the prince had spread like wildfire in the citadel grapevine and went over with his fellow glaives as well as elephants wrestling with donkeys. The divide in opinion was baffling to see, but what truly irritated him was the attention he received as a product of this divide.

Those in the coalition were concerned by this development and worried if it meant Regis knew they were plotting treason, though a few congratulated him on getting close to royal family and expressed a rhetorical curiosity over how he did it. There were plans to stage something of a meeting somewhere in the underground, and as much as Axis wanted to tell them his date of departure was closer than what the citadel officials said it was, he had sworn an oath of secrecy, one sealed with a strange ritual of some sort.

Although, he wasn't sure it actually did anything, but the whole atmosphere, the wine as blood part and the chanting in Old Lucian, really did wonders to instill a sense of fear and awe from a simple farm boy like himself.

So shut, his mouth remained.

Thus, unsurprisingly, the day he was called to once more into the throne room, there were a number of confused and unsure glances aimed at him. To which he just shrugged, in response and prayed to the astrals no one tried to interrogate him further. Though he could tell from a glance Tredd was very much about to, until an elbow from Sonitus gave him enough pause for Axis to slip out of the room.

Upon arriving, it was a relief to see that he was neither late nor early. Regis stood in hallway just outside the throne room, speaking to whom he assumed must be Noctis. As the others beside the prince were a fidgeting blond boy and a composed brunette girl.

What gave him pause, however, was the youth, readily apparent in their features. The baby fat was still evident in their cheeks, even in Noctis, who was the oldest in the group. The insecurity of their bodies, the telltale gracelessness that accompanied adolescence. But what had stopped the glaive dead in his gait, was the innocence in their eyes.

The thought of the original group, boys not yet 25, bounding through the countryside with barely an idea of what was actually out there. A place full of creatures eagerly awaiting for fresh meat to sink their teeth into. Of armies of faceless soldiers, if not prepared to gun them down on sight, then prepared to take them alive, as prisoners of war.

Axis’s gaze shifted away from Noctis, and settled on Regis. 

_Have you become so desperate to resolve this madness, that you are sending children to do it for you?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned last chapter that Axis spends a lot of time in his own head and here is the first of so many of his musings.


	3. Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axis takes mental notes on the people he will be traveling with for the duration of this trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically more of Axis's internal musings.

Prince Noctis was everything and nothing like Axis expected him to be. He was quiet but not unassuming, he commanded a regal air to him, though it was nowhere near as intense as his father's. Manners so drilled into him, that it would have looked completely natural to anyone less perceptive. His voice felt it belonged to someone else much older that 20. Eyes sharp, but unpracticed, and unsure what to look for.

There was an intuitive confidence in Noct’s stride, held back from its true potential by self doubt and inexperience. If he'd been born Galahdan, he would have been trained in the water dance style once he was old enough to properly hold a training blade.

The prince had the makings of an assassin. Axis couldn't help but take note of the poetic nature of that, especially in contrast to the popular media's presentation of Noctis as fairly clumsy.

The blond boy, Prompto Argentum, had the personality equivalent of having curtains dramatically pushed back to reveal the sun's blinding light. His eyes a wide and excited shade of blue, eager to meet him, eager to include but not press. Compassionate, but not patronizingly so.

There was an obvious dexterity to his hands, he noticed from the fidgeting earlier, but had calluses where only firearms could leave them, itchy trigger fingers. This one was a gunslinger.

Iris Amicitia, the last one he was introduced to, and had the strongest air of innocence surrounding her, but did nothing to detract from the shield’s trademark strength. His hand still hurt a bit from the handshake. Her smile was just as wide as Prompto’s, though he could recognise the worry and anxiety in her eyes. The makings of a good shield.

She reminded Axis of his oldest, they should even be roughly the same age too.

Once everyone was done introducing themselves, the transfer of magical bonds commenced. Which was simply Noctis holding his hand as he whispered an Old Lucian cant. Far less fire and brimstone than whatever the hell the king did, leaving Axis starting to believe that the blood magic ritual was just to instill a sense of fear and awe. Which it did, he won't lie, but the effect was beginning to wear off.

When the prince finished the glaive was left with a pins and needles sensation all through his arm and up to his shoulder. It faded quickly enough, but Axis still shook his arm to stir up the blood flow. 

All that was left now were final goodbyes, which Noct and Iris seemed eager to get over with. It wasn't until he settled into the backseat of the Star of Lucis that it occurred to him that he didn't see Iris’s older brother, or any of Prompto’s family. Axis wondered if they had already said their goodbyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @ shiary hope this sorta adds to your own wonderings


	4. Driver's Seat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group has now officially started the road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This'll be the last update for a while, at least until I finish another project I have going on. I'm not abandoning the story, however, consider this my declaring hiatus for the time being.

“Hey, sooo,” Iris began, once they had got through customs and were now beyond the walls, “Axis, right? How old are you?”

He wasn't in mood for eye contact instead opting to stare at his hand, which rested on car door, and answered, “43.”

“Wha- really?! You look so young!”

That was.. Axis couldn't come up with a response to that so he just nodded in response.

“Wait, for real?” Prompto, unbuckled and out of his seat to peak over the top and down at him, interjected, “Dude, you could totally pass as like a model or something!”

The glaive could hear Noctis, up in the driver's seat, cough to hide his laughter.

“How do you do it, what kind of moisturizer do you use? What kinds of foods do you eat? Do you get spa treatments?” The young girl bombarded him with a multitude of questions regarding his ‘beauty regimen’. Axis didn't have one, or at least didn't think buying on sale for half off shampoo and body wash only to use it twice a week because you're always on call for Glaive duty counted.

“Oh! Hey Noct, slow down a bit yeah? I wanna take this shot.” Said shot was a selfie that required the blond to stand straight up in the car so as to position the camera in a way so as to get everyone in it. Axis wasn't sure why this couldn't have waited until they weren't in a moving vehicle, but 

“So, anything else that we should know about you Axis?” Noctis asked, after a beat.

“I don't have a license.”

The blond paused in his picture taking, “I was gonna ask how you don't have a license, but then I don't have one either, soo…”

“I'm barely old enough to get a permit,” Iris added, though no one acknowledged it.

He could see the prince take a deep breath before asking, “You at least got, like, a funny reason for not having a license?”

It was now Axis’s turn to take a deep breath, “Used to run red lights, so it got suspended, caught me still driving so they revoked it.”

There was an almost awkward silence that settled over the group.

“That's not really all that funny,” muttered Iris.

“Until they revoked my license, Drautos would carpool with me, he would wake up late so that's why I ran lights.”

The boys in front smiled at that, while the young shield scrunched up her nose at him, also smiling.

The silence was much more pleasant than the one before.

**Author's Note:**

> This wip has been in development since I think around last year, which is now almost at 4,000 words and the crew just met Cindy so buckle up we're in it for the long haul because Axis can't help but spend all his time in his own head.


End file.
